Monday, July 8, 2013
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Kankkunen
Nationality:Finnish Date of Birth:02
Apr 59 FIA Championship Titles:1986, 1987, 1991, 1993 World
Championships:4 WRC Rally Starts:162 WRC Rally Wins:23 The first
four-time World Rally Champion, Juha Kankkunen won 23 rallies in a
distinguished 23 year WRC career which included a variety of cars and
teams. Born in Finland in 1959, Kankkunen grew up in Laukaa, close to
Jyvaskyla, the home town of the 1000 Lakes Rally - the event on which he
made his competitive debut in 1979. Early in his career Kankkunen was
mentored by Finnish WRC star, Timo Makinen, a friend of his fathers and
someone who tested in Laukaa every year before the 1000 Lakes. With
Makinen’s guidance, and financial backing from renowned Finnish talent
scout Timo Jouhki, Kankkunen had the perfect chance to learn his craft.
His performance on two WRC rallies in 1982 persuaded Toyota Finland to
lend him an ex Bjorn Waldegard Group 4 rally car for a number of Finnish
events, and his continued success led to a works team entry in a Celica
TCT at the 1983 1000 Lakes. He finished sixth, and began a two-year
association with Toyota, during which he won his first rally, the 1985
Safari, in the Celica. A move to Peugeot followed in 1986 and, after a
dominant season in the Group B 205 Turbo 16 E2, he became Drivers’
Champion. The following year he moved to Lancia and successfully
defended his title, taking victory this time with the Group A Delta HF
4WD. Kankkunen moved to Toyota Team Europe in 1988, winning with the
Celica GT-Four in 1989, before returning to Lancia in 1990 and helping
the Italian company to a third successive manufacturers’ title. The next
year was Kankkunen’s most successful with Lancia, and with the Delta
Integrale 16V he became the first man to win three Drivers’
championships. Following Lancia’s withdrawal from the WRC, Kankkunen
returned to Toyota in 1993 and crushed the opposition in his Celica
Turbo 4WD, securing an unprecedented fourth Drivers’ title and becoming
the most successful driver in the history of the WRC. A fter leaving
Toyota after the end of the 1996 season Kankkunen proved a consistent
points scorer for the Ford, Subaru and Hyundai factory teams. Fittingly,
his last WRC win before retirement came at home, on the 1999 Rally
Finland. Kankkunen's first year with the Subaru World Rally Team and the
Subaru Impreza WRC led to victories in Argentina and Finland. In
Argentina, he took his first win in over five years, overtaking teammate
Richard Burns on the last stage to win by a mere 2.4 seconds. Kankkunen
was prepared to accept a team order in the form of a deliberate
10-second time penalty, but with the TV cameras filming, Subaru team
principal David Richards stated that there would be no team orders. In
his home event, Kankkunen beat Burns to what would be his final victory
in the WRC. Despite a one-two for Subaru again at the season-ending RAC,
Subaru lost the manufacturers' crown to Toyota by four points. For the
third year in a row, Kankkunen placed fourth in the drivers'
championship, while Mäkinen equalled Kankkunen's record of four titles.
Kankkunen's 2000 season was a disappointment. His best result was second
in the Safari Rally behind Burns. With only two other podium finishes
to his name, Kankkunen placed eighth in the drivers' standings. Subaru
and Kankkunen did not reach a deal for 2001, and Kankkunen ended up
competing in only one world rally during the season, the Rally Finland
for the Hyundai factory team. He retired after his Accent WRC incurred
several technical problems. For the 2002 season, Hyundai initially
offered Kankkunen a full 14-event programme, which did not interest him,
and the deal was modified to include only the nine gravel rallies.
Despite a new evolution of the Accent WRC, Hyundai were unable to
challenge the top teams: Peugeot, Ford and Subaru. Kankkunen's fifth
place in the Rally New Zealand was the team's best result of the season.
However, Kankkunen and the team's full-time drivers Freddy Loix and
Armin Schwarz did narrowly give Hyundai its career-best fourth place in
the manufacturers' world championship. Kankkunen retired from the WRC
after the season. Following his retirement, Kankkunen announced his
intention to enter politics, echoing the career path of rallying
compatriot Ari Vatanen. In 2004, he ran for the European Parliament as a
candidate of the conservative National Coalition Party. While Vatanen
was re-elected, Kankkunen's 17,815 votes were not enough to gain a seat.
Kankkunen, a Flying Finn himself, was one of the shareholders in the
now-bankrupt Flying Finn airline, the first low cost airline in Finland.
The company's first airplane was named after him. Kankkunen, along with
former NHL star Jari Kurri, has also been a shareholder in a company
that builds luxury real estate in Ruka, Finland. In early 2007,
Kankkunen set a new world speed record on ice in his privately owned
Bentley Continental GT on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia near Oulu, Finland.
He averaged 321.65 km/h (199.86 mph) in both directions on the "flying
kilometer", reaching a maximum speed of 331 km/h (206 mph). Previously
the record was 296.34 km/h (184 mph) held by a Bugatti EB110
Supersport.] The Bentley was largely standard except a rollcage, some
aerodynamic improvements and low-temperature fuel and calibration. Tires
were from Nokian Tyres with spikes. Technical support was provided by
Nokian and Bentley Motors. It was announced on 23 July 2010 that
Kankkunen would take part in the the 2010 Rally Finland to mark the
sixtieth jubilee of the event. He was joined by his long-time co-driver
Juha Repo driving a Ford Focus WRC for the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally
Team. At just over 51 years old, Kankkunen finished an impressive 8th,
beating many WRC regulars.
About: Ashok Revanna
You may also like...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Translate
Latest trending "WHO's WHO"
-
Nationality Scottish Date of Birth 05 Aug 68 FIA Championship Titles 1995 World Championships 1 WRC Rally Starts 146 WRC...
-
Name : Roger Iskandar Feghali Nationality : Lebanese Date of Birth : 20-09-1973 Place of Birth : Wadi Chahrour - Lebanon Oc...
-
Nationality Italian Born 7 March 1962 (age 49) World Rally Championship record Active years 1990 - 2004 Teams Subaru, Ford, SEAT, ...
-
Andreas Aigner [born 24 September 1984 in Leoben] is an Austrian rally driver. He won the Production World Rally Championship in the 20...
-
Nationality:Czech Date of Birth:04 Oct 82 Car:Ford Fiesta WRC Co-driver:Zdenek Hruza FIA Championship Titles: 2009 FIA Junior Worl...
Popular Posts
-
Andreas Aigner [born 24 September 1984 in Leoben] is an Austrian rally driver. He won the Production World Rally Championship in the 20...
-
Thierry Neuville (born 16 June 1988 in St. Vith) is Belgian rally driver. He is currently competing in World Rally Championship. His co-d...
-
Jari-Matti Latvala (born April 3, 1985) is a Finnish rally driver competing in the World Rally Championship. His co-driver has been Miik...
-
Nationality Scottish Date of Birth 05 Aug 68 FIA Championship Titles 1995 World Championships 1 WRC Rally Starts 146 WRC...
-
Nationality:Czech Date of Birth:04 Oct 82 Car:Ford Fiesta WRC Co-driver:Zdenek Hruza FIA Championship Titles: 2009 FIA Junior Worl...
Blog Archive
-
▼
2013
(54)
-
▼
July
(54)
- Andreas Aigner
- Thierry Neuville
- Jari-Matti Latvala
- Sébastien Ogier
- Gilles Panizzi
- N. Leelakrishnan
- V. R. Naren Kumar
- Gaurav Gill
- Sandro Munari
- Björn Waldegård
- Philippe Bugalski
- Bruno Thiry
- Stig Blomqvist
- Michèle Mouton
- Armindo Araújo
- Kenneth Eriksson
- Matthew Wilson
- Armin Schwarz
- Timo Salonen
- Federico Villagra " Coyote "
- Patrik Sandell
- Piero Liatti
- Richard Burns
- Walter Röhrl
- Dennis Kuipers
- Mohammed ben Sulayem
- Nasser Al-Attiyah
- Marcus Grönholm
- Roger Feghali
- Markko Märtin
- Massimo 'Miki' Biasion
- David Higgins
- Hannu Mikkola
- Andreas Mikkelsen
- Gianluigi Galli
- Markku Alén
- Abdo Feghali
- Dani Sordo
- Petter Solberg
- Mads Østberg
- Didier Auriol
- Martin Prokop
- Tommi Mäkinen
- François Delecour
- Freddy Loix
- Ari Vatanen
- Evgeny Novikov
- Henri Toivonen
- Ken Block
- Kris Meeke
- Sébastien Loeb
- Mikko Hirvonen
- Juha Kankkunen
- Colin McRae
-
▼
July
(54)
Labels
Labels
- 2012 (1)
- 2013 (1)
- Bengaluru (1)
- Citroen DS3 WRC (1)
- Citroen WRT (1)
- Engineer (1)
- FIA (1)
- Ford Fiesta RS WRC (1)
- Human Being (1)
- Indian (1)
- Male (1)
- People (1)
- Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team (1)
- Thierry Neuville (1)
- WRC (1)
No comments:
Post a Comment